Pro Farmer's Midwest Crop Tour: Illinois is the story of two harvests



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The problems in northern Illinois are prevalent this year. DeKalb County, Illinois, Tracy Jones, claims to have fought imperfect conditions from the start.

"April 21 is when it's been planted," said Jones showing corn near his home. "This was one of our first fields that we planted. The problem with our previous corn is that it has weathered all the rains. "

The rains flooded the fields with moisture, creating empty holes in some fields.

"We did not have large faded areas, but we had small spots caused by many moisture damage," Jones said.

The unprecedented conditions have created a year of firsts for Jones, who has been cultivating for decades.

"I think we only planted one or two days in May," Jones said. "Then we have about 600 acres of June maize, which was planted on June 8 and 9."

Jones was forced to take preventive plants on 20% of his acres. He says it's the vegetable piece of the puzzle, plus a late crop, that's common in DeKalb County.

"It's a moving target. It really is. In fact, I'm probably more concerned about my soy yields, "said Jones. "My beans are really short."

Jones is worried about his soy, but more optimistic about his corn, even the corn planted in June.

"The late diet corn actually has a very uniform appearance," Jones said. "He came very quickly."

The rapid emergence helped harvest early; a crop that had trouble finding moisture in July. However, the rains started since, causing more hope for Jones. His greatest concern is how much the sown crop later remains immature.

From northern Illinois to central Illinois, scouts have discovered some of their best fields to date.

"So far, we have seen some very good bean fields," said Mark Bernard, an agronomy expert from the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. "It's one of the best seeds I've ever tasted on this tour anyway."

A better harvest this year, but in comparison with Ohio and Indiana, where the yield bar was low. According to Bernard, in Marshall County, Illinois, the fields produced a more mature corn crop, but yields were still variable.

"It's a nice grain of corn on my course," said Bernard. "It finally failed, which was not really common either."

Bernard says he has good potential, but this is an area in which yields are higher.

"In general, there is very good agricultural land," he said. "So it's nice to see at least those guys having a crop this year, as opposed to other places in the state where there is no harvest at all."

Another plus point in Illinois is the absence of disease and pest pressure so far.

"There are really not a lot of pest problems this year, and that's a good change," said Bernard. "It does not always happen like that."

A variable crop with scouts eager to see how the law of averages is played this year.

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